Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal was pleased with his team's performance in the second half.

We'll get to the bizarre decision-making of referee Roger East but the more important thing to say about Sunderland's defeat at Old Trafford is that Gus Poyet's side are lucky not to have slid deeper into relegation trouble.

Saturday's consolation was that Aston Villa, Hull City and Burnley all lost, too, but Poyet cannot rely on other strugglers and has serious problems to address.

In truth, East's blunder, which saw him appear to incorrectly send off Wes Brown instead of John O'Shea (although the...

It was yet another day when all would seem perfect at Manchester United if you looked just at the result and avoided the actual performance. There remains this deep disconnect between the two, as well as the feeling that it has to snap at some point.

At the same time, it is to their huge credit that they keep persevering, keep going and keep staying in those Champions...

Sunderland will need their veteran Jermain Defoe to get back to scoring goals if they want another upset vs. Manchester United. The striker hasn't scored in Sunderland's past two matches.

A glimpse into the mind of Sunderland boss Gus Poyet requires no extraordinary powers as he leads his team across the Pennines mountains to face Manchester United on Saturday.

He wants the same result as last season, a 1-0 win that took Sunderland's great escape to the brink of accomplishment. The victory also ended the brief honeymoon spell of Ryan Giggs, United's interim manager after the dismissal of David Moyes.

When Sebastian Larsson's 30th-minute strike proved the winner, it was the culmination...

The time of year has arrived when, almost as a matter of course, Sunderland start to approach each game as if it were a cup final.

If that sounds like an enticing way of contemplating workaday league duties, think again. Saturday's home game against West Bromwich Albion receives such status for no better reason than that Gus Poyet's team has managed to dig itself into another mess. So points are vital.

It is pretty much the same story whenever Sunderland are in the Premier League. Finishing...